Second Time Around
by justreckin
Summary: Bahrain took him out of the field. Which was fine, running things from the base didn't bother him so much. Until the Battle of New York. Until he lost her. Then it bothered him. It bothered him a lot. But she's back. She's alive. And he's going to make sure she stays that way.


**A/N:** I'm a huge fan of the idea of role reversals. I'm always interested in how another character would react to a situation. But I often find myself disappointed, because role reversals typically turn into the exact same story with the pronouns and names switched.

So I tried something a little different. Let me know what you think.

 **Disclaimer:** Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not mine, nor are any of the characters. Heck, the idea isn't really even mine. We're all just playing in the sandbox together for a while.

* * *

She found him in Administration. He was talking to a woman in one of the far cubicles, so May held back, just watching and waiting. He knew she was there, he always knew when she was there, so she wasn't concerned about him ignoring her.

Sure enough, when his conversation was over, he turned to her without a hint of surprise. In fact, there was the slightest touch of a smile on his face as he gestured her to join him as he lead the way out of Admin.

She waited until they were in an empty hallway before turning to him.

"You're going back in the field?"

Coulson stopped, glanced about the hallway, then turned back to her, "So you've been briefed."

May nodded, "Maria just told me. Phil… Are you sure?"

"It's not a combat opp."

She quirked an eyebrow. They both knew how quickly non-combat opps could become combat ones.

Coulson sighed, "It's a nice Bus. Have you seen it?"

"No. Not yet. But I've seen the specks. What about Clint and Natasha?"

He shrugged, "They're Avengers now."

"Phil."

"They'll be fine Melinda. You know they will."

"So we're really doing this?"

"Not really an option. But it's a _really_ nice Bus."

-:-

FitzSimmons were cute, she decided. Adorable really. Exactly how she'd been with her own partner back in the day. Except, maybe not quite so sciencey.

Still, they hadn't passed their field tests. She knew Coulson had another specialist coming aboard, someone named Ward—they'd never met—but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be concerned about these kids. Damn Phil and his saving people thing.

May roamed the Bus, getting herself accustomed to it all. Coulson was right, it was a _really_ nice Bus. She'd trained on one of these in the simulator, back in the 90s when they were just getting popular. But she'd never actually been aboard one. And even if she had, this was now her plane, and she wanted to get to know it inside and out.

She watched as Ward came aboard, having stopped at the Command Center to watch the science twins unpack. She watched their interaction carefully.

What the hell was Coulson thinking? The guy couldn't be bothered to talk to these kids, he was barely surviving in their presence. And FitzSimmons… They were good kids, May would give them that, and her own interactions with them so far had been limited. But they couldn't continue as they were. There had to be some people skills in there somewhere.

May looked away from the screens and down to the binder she'd been given minutes before. This was her real reason for pausing in her exploration of the Bus. This brief gave her quite a bit of information on the Rising Tide. Really, she only cared about the location. Coulson could deal with the rest.

He was here.

Eyes flickering back to the screen, she saw that Coulson and Ward had made their way to the upper level. They were chatting, or Coulson was chatting, Ward didn't look particularly interested, or happy to have a chatty boss.

When their voices got closer, she abandoned her place and went to join them.

"If you plan to unpack, better make it quick," she told Ward, "Wheels up in five."

To Coulson she handed the binder, "We may have a hit on one of the Rising Tide's routing points."

It was interesting, watching the shift in him as he took the binder. May wouldn't admit it, but she enjoyed watching Coulson when he went from man to agent and back. "We need to do some catching up," he said, opening the binder and looking through it.

She nodded. As she made her way back up to the cockpit, she heard Ward ask, "Is that…?"

-:-

LA was different. She hadn't been in a while. Their hacker extraordinaire was here, though, so she wasn't going to get a chance to take in the sights.

Pity.

"I want you to go with Ward." Coulson entered the cockpit just before they set down. "Go pick up our hacker."

May nodded. Pick up meant one of two things: you asked nicely, or you told. Nicely.

Which was how she found herself driving through the streets of LA, into an alley behind a café, with a man who did a better job at resembling a statue than she did. The dusty, purple-blue van parked out back of the café was a surprise. They were here for a hacker, not some bum. She knew all about judging a book by its cover, but in her experience, there were certain universal norms that held true.

Ward wasn't the talkative type. That was fine, May wasn't much of a talker either. But he was the angry quiet type; she'd have to keep an eye on him. Honestly, she wasn't all that interested in getting to know the man. If her guess were right, he'd be out of the team by the end of the week. He seemed too much of a lone wolf, too uninterested in working as a team. Someone to be aware of but not take interest in.

Which was the only reason May stepped back and allowed him to open the door.

The young woman inside _was_ a surprise. She was young, and a whole lot cleaner than May had expected her to be, given the condition of the van she was apparently living in.

"Hey," the girl winced a little as she turned to the intruders, "What up?"

Catching the hint of movement from the corner of her eye, May caught Ward's hand before he was able to slide a bag over the girl's head. He glared at her and she glared right on back.

"Hi," May didn't smile exactly, but her expression was soft. "Mind coming with us?"

"Do I have a choice?" the girl asked.

"No," Ward growled.

May ignored him. "Not really, no. But we want your help. We're not here to arrest you."

The girl glanced from May to Ward and back. "Fine." She climbed from the van, not bothering to turn off any of her equipment, and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Ward's going to drive you back. I'll take your van." May gestured the girl towards the SUV they'd arrived in.

"No. And not just no, _hell no._ " The girl glared at May, "If you want my help, my van stays right here. And T-1000 there comes nowhere near me."

May kept her face calm, though she couldn't help the amusement she felt at this girl. Oh she was scared, but she hid it well. "Fine. Get in."

She opened the back drivers side door and the girl climbed in. May got into the driver's seat and Ward, after glaring at May, made his way to the passenger side. As soon as all three were buckled, May locked the back doors and rolled up a divider.

"Whoa, wha—Hey!"

There was no way she was letting this girl know where they were going.

-:-

May brought the girl into Coulson's office. Ward, she sent away, ostensibly to coordinate with Coulson and FitzSimmons, as soon as they pulled onto the Bus's loading ramp.

He hadn't seemed particularly eager about spending time with May, or their find. Still, she didn't want him popping up unannounced, and there weren't a lot of options on the Bus as far as privacy went. So Coulson's it was. Regardless of whatever wishes he may have had on the subject.

"Have a seat," May gestured the girl toward one of Coulson's couches. When she took it, May sat in the chair before the desk, turning to face the hacker. "What's your name?"

May'd seen the girl's eyes sweep the room as they walked in. She was now fixated on the nick-knack's behind Coulson's desk. "Skye," she turned back to May, "What's yours?"

"Agent May."

"Your first name's Agent?" May ignored her. "How did you find me?"

"Your broadcast."

"And you came to pick me up because…" Skye eyed the woman across from her, "You guys couldn't break my encryption, could you?"

Again, May didn't answer. She stood though, and made her way around Coulson's desk for access to the screen on the opposite wall.

"What do you want with me?" Skye asked.

For a moment, May ignored her, still tapping away. Then she nodded at the screen. On it was an image of a man cradling a woman, standing in a crater, and wearing a dark hood. "We want to find him."

"Why?"

"To talk."

"To talk. Seriously? You expect me to believe…" But Skye paused, she glanced around the room again. "You really just want to talk?"

May took her seat once more. "SHIELD isn't the bad guy. We just want to talk. Help him out."

Skye bit her lip, then, slowly she nodded. "He needs some. Help, I mean. He needs some help."

"The rest of our team is downtown, investigating the explosion. You were on scene. Any idea what they're going to find?"

"No. Why would I?"

May didn't say anything.

"I didn't blow it up! I had nothing to do with that."

"So why were you there?"

"Centipede."

May couldn't quite contain her confusion at Skye's answer.

And the girl picked up on it. "Holy, no way. You guys've got billions of dollars worth of equipment and I beat you with a laptop I won in a bet?"

May shrugged. "Well?"

Skye stood. "Centipede was… chatter on the web. Then it was gone. I traced it back to that building." She made her way slowly around the room, looking at the posters, outlining Coulson's treasures. "Who's is this stuff anyways?"

"Coulson's." May didn't move from her seat, letting the girl wander.

"Who?"

"Coulson. He's senior agent."

"Huh." Skye turned back to the watch she was examining. "He's got a lot of stuff."

"Are you going to help us?"

-:-

Turns out, as long as they kept Skye away from Ward, she was more than happy to help in any way she could. Skye was still a hacker and member of the Rising Tide, and May could understand Ward's position, but her heart was in the right place.

So May didn't much mind escorting the girl back to her van, keeping a lookout while Skye sent her audio files back to the plane.

At least, she didn't mind until she found herself flung against a wall. By the time she woke up, it was morning and Skye, her van, and Mike Peterson were gone.

By the time she made it to the train station, Coulson was in the field. That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to stay back, to stay safe in the Bus, and _let her handle it._ But Phil was still Phil, and this was what he was good at; people, hostages, _talking._ So he took care of it. And the shooter, the danger Skye was in; those were things _she_ was good at. So she took care of it.

-:-

With Peterson down, they took a minute to regroup. May stayed close to Coulson as he dealt with the gathered police and SHIELD agents. She listened to him with one ear, monitoring her team with the other, and never letting Skye or Peterson's son Ace, out of her sight.

When Coulson was finished, he turned to May. The rest of the team had re-convened to the Bus but she was still watching the other two, huddled together as they were, seated on a planter box on the outskirts of the group.

"I want you to take Lola, get him home," Coulson stepped up next to her, his eyes following hers. "Take Skye with you. Her van will need to be fixed, and I think she'll feel better knowing he's okay."

May nodded, "Where am I taking him?"

"His aunt's house. One of the officers is getting her address now. He can stay with her until his father's cleared."

May nodded again. Coulson wasn't finished though, and inside she bit back a sigh. Sometimes knowing this man as well as she did wasn't a boon. She'd been hoping that he wouldn't take the interest in Skye he clearly had. She didn't want him adding to her responsibilities, or putting his own state-of-mind at risk.

"I know we already have two kids—"

"I'll look after her."

Coulson turned to smile at her, "Thanks May."

She glared, "You owe me." He only smirked, and turned to an approaching agent. He'd be fine with Skye. She'd make sure of it.

May made her way to the two stragglers. "Let's go," she stopped before them, getting them into motion with a jerk of her head.

Skye levered Ace off her lap, following behind him, one curious eye on May.

"Where are we going?" Ace asked.

"We're taking you to your aunt's house." May glanced at Skye, making sure the hacker knew she was coming with, "But first you two need to get cleaned up. So we're going to the Bus, and you're taking showers."

-:-

Three hours later, May was standing against Lola, watching Skye as she farewelled the little boy. She'd keep an eye on Peterson's condition, and make sure to check back in on Ace in a few months. But for now, May was content to allow Skye her time.

When Skye joined her, May didn't immediately turn to look at the younger woman. She watched Ace's cousin take his hand and lead the boy into the house. His aunt waved goodbye as she followed after them.

"I told him his dad would be coming home," Skye said.

May nodded, rounding the car. "He will."

"Good. I'm glad." Out of the corner of her eye, May could see Skye fidgeting. "So what happens now?"

"Your van needs to be repaired, so you could stay at SHIELD housing while you wait."

"Or? Was there an or there? I'm pretty sure there was an or."

May opened the door, sliding behind the wheel. On the other side, Skye did the same. "Or, we have an extra bunk on the Bus."

Skye gapped. "You're offering me a place on your plane? Don't you have to clear that with Coulson or something?"

Gentle beeping from the car gave May as good a reason as any not to answer. She tapped a button on the dash, "Coulson."

"May," she could hear the smirk in his voice, and couldn't help the answering one that spread across her face, "we've got an 084 in Brazil."

"Is it confirmed?" she asked.

"We're going out to confirm it."

"Okay. On our way." She hung up the phone and glanced at Skye.

"What's an 084?" the girl asked.

"An object of unknown origin. It'll take us about 10 minutes to get to the airfield, you have until then to decide if you're staying or not."

"10 minutes? There's no way that this thing—"

May turned the key, flipped open a compartment and pressed the little red button inside. Immediately the car began to hum, the wheels turning under as the car began to float. Skye blinked in shock, leaning over the side to stare at the ground, which was suddenly a lot farther away than it should have been. "This thing can fly?"

May chuckled. "Have you made up your mind?"

"I'll stay." Skye nodded, turning forward and squaring her shoulders.

"Good," May couldn't suppress the smile pulling at her lips, "I hope you like early mornings."


End file.
